Brining a turkey
Soaking a turkey in brine is the best way to make it moist and delicious. The salt soaks into the meat and tenderizes the bird. Here’s how you do it.
brine ingredients:
1 gallon vegetable broth
2 TB molasses
1 cup salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 Tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 gallon ice water
rub ingredients:
10 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon thyme
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
1 apple
6 Tablespoons butter
In a very large cooking pot, combine the vegetable broth, molasses, salt, brown sugar, black peppercorns, allspice berrries and ginger. Bring to a boil then cool down to room temp.
Add the ice water to the brine, and stir well.
Your turkey is going to sit in the brine over night so for this you’ll need a large CLEAN bucket. I have a bucket that I designate just for this once a year activity and NOTHING else. Pour in half of the cooled brine. The weight of the turkey will make the water level rise.
Then lower the washed and cleaned out turkey into the bucket, then pour in the rest of the brine, just until you cover the turkey as best you can. Cover with foil and place in the fridge overnight. Approx. 8 hours.
In the morning, remove the bird from the brine and rinse and pat the turkey dry.
Mix up the rub of garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and rub it on the outside AND the inside too! Adding the rub on the inside will add lots of flavor!
Cut the apple in half and place it inside the turkey cavity. This also adds aromatics. You can use an orange or an onion just as well. Dot the bird with butter then cook the turkey according to weight.
Cover with foil and roast the turkey for the first hour, then remove the foil and start basting the turkey every 20 minutes until done.
The best way to test to see if a turkey is done is to use a probe thermometer. When it reaches 165 in the center or 180 in the thigh, the turkey is ready. Another way to test is to pull the turkey legs back and forth. If they are loose, your turkey is pretty good to go!
After pulling it out of the oven, let the turkey rest for at least 20 minutes before you carve it, so it will stay moist.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Christmas Eve 2007 was a hit and I owe it all to JustJenn’s awesome turkey brining instructions.
F*ing brilliant. I might be trying this at Christmas.